Trying to get screen repair in France on iPhone bought in Canada

Question

Trying to get screen repair in France on iPhone bought in Canada

I broke the screen on my iPhone 6. It was my fault, it is out of warranty, and I did not have AppleCare. I bought it in Canada, and I am now based in France for an extended period so I want to get it fixed here. I filled out the product repair form on apple.fr. First nasty surprise: although it says that screen repairs should cost 127.10 euros for an iPhone 6 without AppleCare+, the "devis rapide" says that my repair will cost: 237,50 € + taxes, frais d’expédition et de manutention. Which is pretty steep. Second problem: when I enter my address (near the Swiss border, very close to Geneva) for them to send me a box so I can ship them my phone for repairs, I get the error message:

Il n’est pas possible d’effectuer de réparation dans cette région. Choisissez une autre solution. (addrapi.08)

So apparently I cannot mail it in at all from where I live. I am wondering whether this is because I bought the phone in Canada, or because I live in a "remote" part of France (though nearly a suburb of a major Swiss city and very well served by La Poste and all major package delivery companies)? I am also wondering whether I will be able to get my screen repaired if I take it to the Apple Store in Geneva, or whether its Canadian purchase point will also be a problem there (or also make the repair cost twice as much there)? I believe there is no difference whatsoever between an iPhone 6 bought in Canada and one bought in France or Switzerland (except the power adapter plug in the box) so I am puzzled that this should be a problem. Does anyone have relevant experience?

iPhone 6, iOS 9.3.5

Posted on Sep 5, 2016 9:21 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 14, 2017 6:42 AM in response to MichaelO20

MichaelO20 wrote:

Just came across this and it is incorrect. We purchased our iThings: iPhones, iPads, and MPB's in the US. We then moved to France and we've always had no problem getting them serviced. They even honor Apple Care (though sometimes have to argue a little).

Apple still reserves the right not to repair iOS devices outside of the country in which they were originally sold. Might you get an exception? Yes, depending on the repair. It is not something that should be counted on, as the original poster found out.

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Answer 2

Nov 14, 2017 6:26 AM in response to IdrisSeabright

Just came across this and it is incorrect. We purchased our iThings: iPhones, iPads, and MPB's in the US. We then moved to France and we've always had no problem getting them serviced. They even honor Apple Care (though sometimes have to argue a little).

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Answer 3

Nov 14, 2017 7:51 AM in response to deggie

Yes, and we've never had a problem. We didn't even realize there was a policy. We have replaced broken iPhone's, iPad's, and fixed a Macbook Pro, all originally purchased in the US. The people at the Apple Store were always courteous and helpful. My wife mailed in a bricked iWatch just today (they apparently don't repair them at the store but Apple had it picked up). That repair was initiated from wherever Apple's support people are. It's the type of service you'd expect from Apple.

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Answer 4

deggie

Level 10

167,537 points

Nov 14, 2017 7:55 AM in response to MichaelO20

This is not the typical result most people get as you can tell by a quick search here and in any of the major search sites. Since EU countries do not stock US region cellular devices they normally will not replace them. If they replaced yours with an EU model and you return to the US you will have a problem with replacement here. This does not apply to any iOS device that does not have a cellular radio or the Apple Watch.

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Answer 5

Nov 14, 2017 8:07 AM in response to MichaelO20

MichaelO20 wrote:

Yes, and we've never had a problem. We didn't even realize there was a policy. We have replaced broken iPhone's, iPad's, and fixed a Macbook Pro, all originally purchased in the US.

The MacBook Pro does have an international warranty.

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Answer 6

deggie

Level 10

167,537 points

Nov 14, 2017 7:43 AM in response to MichaelO20

Have you had your iPhones replaced for service?

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Answer 7

Sep 5, 2016 2:52 PM in response to isabelfromvancouver

The warranty on an iPhone is not international. It's restricted to the country in which you purchased it unless that country is part of the EU in which case the warranty is valid in any EU country.

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Answer 8

Sep 5, 2016 9:39 PM in response to IdrisSeabright

The phone is more than a year old. It is no longer under warranty. I have no expectation that Apple will pay for the repair. I just want to get it fixed without physically taking it back to the country I bought it in!

There are two issues:

1 - it does not seem to be possible to mail the phone in for repairs from my current address. The online request for Apple to send a box to mail in the phone just produces an error. I do not know whether this is because you can't mail in ANY Apple phone for repair from this address (issue with living in this part of France), or because you can't mail in a phone purchased outside the EU for repair in France.

2 - the price quoted for the repair, before the system decides it's impossible anyway, is close to double the price quoted for a non-Applecare+ iPhone 6 screen replacement. It's surprising because I assumed that was a completely unsubsidized price already, and the hardware is identical, irrespective of where the phone was purchased.

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Answer 9

Sep 6, 2016 5:30 AM in response to isabelfromvancouver

Apple does only service iPhones in the country of purchase, and they don't ship internationally. Since your iPhone has been sold in Canada, you can't ship it directly to Apple. You will have to ship it to a person you trust and ask them to get it fixed and send it back to you after that.

Only other iDevices, like iPods for example, can be serviced internationally, same for Macs.

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